Clock-winding mechanism



A. E HALL.

CLOCK WINDING MEOHANISM.

(No Mod-e1.)

No. 374,061. Patented Nov. 29,1887.

N. PETERS. Halo-Lithographer. walhin lun, D. C.

UNIT D STATES lPATENT -OFFICE.

ADOLPHUS E. HALL, OF PEQRIA, ILLINOIS.

CLOCK-WINDING MECHANISM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent NO. 374,061, dated November29, 1887,

Application filed December 16, 1886. Serial No. 221,740. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Y Be it known that I, ADOLPHUS E. HALL, a citizen of the United States,residing at Peoria, in the county of Peoria and State of Illinois, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Winding Mechanism forClocks and \Vatches; and I do hereby declare that the following is afull, clear, and exact description of thein'vention, which will enableothers skilled in the art to which itappertains to make and use thesame.

This invention relates to winding mechanism for clocks and watches, andis fully described and explained in this specification, and shown in theaccompanying drawings, in Which- Figure l is a side elevation of oneembodiment of the invention, and Fig. 2 is a plan view.

In the views, A is a barrel mounted on a suitable arbor, a, andinclosing a coiled spring, one end of which is fastened to the barreland the other to the arbor, the exposed end of the arbor being squaredto receive awinding-key. To one end of the barrel A is rigidly secured agear-wheel, a, concentric with the barrel and engaging a pinion, B,mounted upon a second arbor, b, jonrnaled in suitable bearings. 0n thearbor b is mounted a second gear-wheel, B, of considerably greaterdiameter than that of the pinion B, andthis gear vheel engages a secondpinion, c, rigidly mounted on the mainspring-arbor G of, the time-piece.The arbor Cpasses through an ordinary mainspring-barrel, O, inclosingthe mainspring and provided with a rigidly-attached gearwheel, 0,adapted to communicate the motion of the barrel to a time-train of anydesired construction. Inasmuch as the pinion B is of ainuch smallerdiameter than the gear-wheel a and the pinion o is much smaller than thegear-wheel B, motion transmitted from the supplemental spring in thebarrel A to the mainspring is multiplied, and .obviously the gearing maybe so made as to multiply this mo- 1 tion to any desired degree.

It is desirable that the gearing between the two springs be periodicallyrestrained and re leased, in order to allow the mainspring to unwind anydesired distance, and then to be wound again by the action of thesupplemental spring. In order to accomplish this the barrel whichincloses the mainspring is provided with a grooved cam, D, and thegear-wheel B is provided with a series of pins, d, and levers D D aremounted upon suitable stationary shafts between the cam and thegearwheel. One end of each of the levers is so arranged as to engage thecam D, and the other end is bent, preferably at an oblique angle, inorder to form a stop and at the same time to present no opposition tothe sliding of the pins over the ends, when desirable. The camgroove iseccentric with reference to the gearwheel C, and is so arranged that theobliquelybent free end of each of the levers D D is in the path of thepins d, except when the opposite end of the lever is in engagement withthe are of least radius of the cam. Then, in the revolution of the cam,its arc of least radius comes in contact with the end of either of thelevers, that end is drawn inward and the opposite free end is thrownoutward and leaves the path of the pins d. Each of the levers thusreleases each of the pins of the gear-wheel B once during each rotationof the mainspringbarrel, and the number of pins may evidently be soincreased and the form of the cam so varied as to time these releases inany desired way. the gear-wheel B the barrel A and gear-wheel a revolveuntil stopped by the interposition of the end of one of the levers D D,and that during such rotation the mainspring is correspondingly woundup.

From the foregoing it will be seen that if the Inainspring and thesupplemental spring be wound up a time-piece may be run for a muchlonger time than has been possible by any device heretofore used. Thespring being kept at practically the same tension at all times, themovementot' the parts actuated thereby is necessarily uniform andregular.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination, with the mainspring and mainspring-barrel of atimepiece, of a supplemental spring and means for winding the same, atrain of gearing connecting said supplemental spring and saidmainspring, a cam mounted directly on the mainspring-bar- It is evidentthat upon the release of' rel, and two pivoted levers, one end of eachof which impinges on the'cam and is actuated by the rotation thereof,while the other end, when in one position, acts as a stop engaging oneelement of said train of gearing, and in leaving said position releasessaid element and permits the operation of the train.

2. The combination, with the mainspring and its barrel 0, of thesupplemental spring and its barrel A, the train of gearing connectingthe two springs, the pins (I, mounted on one element of the train ofgearing, the cam D, mounted on the mainspring-barrel, and the levers DD, each having one of its ends in engagement with the cam D, and itsopposite is end adapted to stop and release said pins d, substantiallyas and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

ADOLPHUS E. HALL.

DAVID H. lVIEAD,

